TX Bus Crash Death Toll Rises

A Texas state trooper makes photographs at a bus accident scene on U.S. 75 North bound that killed at least 12 people early, Friday, Aug. 8, 2008, in Sherman, Texas. The charter bus ran off the highway overpass north of Dallas and crashed onto its side on a roadway below, killing 12 people early Friday, authorities said. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

By AP&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Sat 9:45 PM, Aug 09, 2008

The death toll from yesterday's charter bus wreck in Texas has climbed to 17.

One of the injured survivors died Saturday at a hospital in Fort Worth.

Police have also released the 911 tapes. Witnesses who called in described a chaotic scene. They reported people screaming for help and bloody passengers crushed beneath the smoking wreckage.

One emergency call begins with a crash victim speaking in accented English over the screams and moans of other passengers.

The unlicensed bus was carrying 55 members of a Vietnamese-American church group from Houston to a religious festival in Missouri when a tire blew out.

The bus smashed into a guardrail and skidded off a highway near the Texas-Oklahoma state line.

A member of the National Transportation Safety Board says the tire that blew was an illegal retread. The bus itself was not licensed for charter service. And the driver's medical certification had expired.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.